The blood drive is open to the community from 9 a.m. to 3:15 p.m in the United Blood Services Bloodmobile, which will be located near the main entrance of JRMC.

JRMC Clinical Service Assistant Katie Mittleider says the blood drive is a great event for the community and staff.

People can donate blood up to three times each year.

The JRMC blood drive collects whole blood. During a whole blood donation, nearly 500 ml of blood is collected from the donor and then separated later into components like red cells, plasma and platelets. These are used for patient transfusions.

Mittleider says, “This is our 12th time holding a blood drive since 2011 at the Jamestown Regional Medical Center. United Blood Services provides our medical center with red cells, platelets and plasma for transfusions, so we welcome the opportunity to partner with them.”

Last year’s event collected 34 units of blood. To date, the JRMC blood drive alone has collected 819 pints of blood for the United Blood Services.

While most adults can donate blood, some individuals are ineligible. Certain diseases, like AIDS and hepatitis, prevent people from donating.

Others who are ineligible include people who:

have used needles to take nonprescription drugs

have had syphilis or gonorrhea in the past 12 months

have had the Ebola virus disease or infection

To donate blood and schedule an appointment or for donor eligibility, call (701) 952-4814 or go to www.bloodhero.com and use JRMC as the code.